Longevity Tied to Genes That Preserve Tips of Chromosomes

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University ^ | November 11, 2009 | Unknown

[decimon]

(BRONX, NY) — A team led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has found a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres — the tip ends of chromosomes. The findings appear in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Telomeres play crucial roles in aging, cancer and other biological processes. Their importance was recognized last month, when three scientists were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for determining the structure of telomeres and discovering how they protect chromosomes from degrading.

Telomeres are relatively short sections of specialized DNA that sit at the ends of all chromosomes. One of the Nobel Prize winners, Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., of the University of California at San Francisco, has compared telomeres to the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces that prevent the laces from unraveling.

Each time a cell divides, its telomeres erode slightly and become progressively shorter with each cell division. Eventually, telomeres become so short that their host cells stop dividing and lapse into a condition called cell senescence. As a result, vital tissues and important organs begin to fail and the classical signs of aging ensue.

In investigating the role of telomeres in aging, the Einstein researchers studied Ashkenazi Jews because they are a homogeneous population that was already well studied genetically. Three groups were enrolled: 86 very old — but generally healthy - people (average age 97); 175 of their offspring; and 93 controls (offspring of parents who had lived a normal lifespan).

"Telomeres are one piece of the puzzle that accounts for why some people can live so long," says Gil Atzmon, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and of genetics at Einstein, Genetic Core Leader for The LonGenity Project at Einstein's Institute for Aging Research, and a lead author of the paper. "Our research was meant to answer two questions: Do people who live long lives tend to have long telomeres? And if so, could variations in their genes that code for telomerase account for their long telomeres?"

The answer to both questions was "yes."

"As we suspected, humans of exceptional longevity are better able to maintain the length of their telomeres," said Yousin Suh, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and of genetics at Einstein and senior author of the paper. "And we found that they owe their longevity, at least in part, to advantageous variants of genes involved in telomere maintenance."

More specifically, the researchers found that participants who have lived to a very old age have inherited mutant genes that make their telomerase-making system extra active and able to maintain telomere length more effectively. For the most part, these people were spared age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which cause most deaths among elderly people.

"Telomeres are one piece of the puzzle that accounts for why some people can live so long," says Gil Atzmon, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and of genetics at Einstein, Genetic Core Leader for The LonGenity Project at Einstein's Institute for Aging Research, and a lead author of the paper. "Our research was meant to answer two questions: Do people who live long lives tend to have long telomeres? And if so, could variations in their genes that code for telomerase account for their long telomeres?"

The answer to both questions was "yes."

"As we suspected, humans of exceptional longevity are better able to maintain the length of their telomeres," said Yousin Suh, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and of genetics at Einstein and senior author of the paper. "And we found that they owe their longevity, at least in part, to advantageous variants of genes involved in telomere maintenance."

More specifically, the researchers found that participants who have lived to a very old age have inherited mutant genes that make their telomerase-making system extra active and able to maintain telomere length more effectively. For the most part, these people were spared age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which cause most deaths among elderly people.

[decimon]

The long and the short of it.

[buccaneer81]

Interesting. Several years ago I read a sci-fi novel that centered on telomere therapy and the fight to control it.

[Bon mots]

Q: How do you tell a male chromosome from a female chromosome?
A: Pull down their genes.

:)

[Young Werther]

This tidbit was reported in Scientific American in 1999.

Hugh Downs came to Dallas and spoke with some of the scientist at Southwestern Medical center regarding the longevity effects of the enzyme treatment.

The Nobel Prize should awarded to Obummer!

[Dysart]

Intriguing, but telomeres about it.

[MetaThought]

The first telomerase activators are already here.
You can even buy them as supplements.

Astragaloside IV, Cycloastragenol, etc.

How well they work is still a big question though.

[Dysart]

Also, studies on resveratrol, which I take, influences it.

[MHGinTN]

There was something in the fruit from the tree of life which stacked the deck in favor of immortality ... science just hasn't found it yet.

[WashingtonSource]

This is not news. People have known about this since way before 1999.

[MHGinTN]

Telomerase must have been on the keyboard, to cause the repeat of segments of this thread article ... ;^)

[blam]

Children of older parents are born with shorter telomeres than children of younger parents.

The subject of this study, the Ashkenazi Jews, have the highest IQ of any other group of people in the world.

80% of the Jews who have immigrated to the US are Ashkenazi Jews.

[decimon]

Astragaloside

I thought that a lubricant.

[ml/nj]

My research shows that cigars and bourbon help preserve the tips of chromosomes. I think these should be distributed free to the populace in any national health care plan that might be implemented.

ML/NJ

[decimon]

My research shows that cigars and bourbon help preserve the tips...

Thank you, Mr. Clinton. ;-)

[MetaThought]

Hmmm. I thought resveratrol was a telomerase inhibitor ...

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17980790

Maybe it can have both effects ?!

[MetaThought]

Astragaloside != Astroglide

Hah!

[Secret Agent Man]

At the same time, apparently the hyperactive gene does not help these people survive natural disasters, lethal accidents, and other unplanned life-ending events.

[ml/nj]

Thank you, Mr. Clinton. ;-)

Wrong guy. My research shows you have to smoke the cigars.

ML/NJ

[SunkenCiv]

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[ElkGroveDan]

Longevity Tied to Genes That Preserve Tips of Chromosomes

Darn. My parents had the tip of mine removed when I was a baby and I had no say in it.

[null and void]

Me too. I couldn’t walk for a year.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[FastCoyote]

If your parents don’t have children
You have a high chance of not having children either

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

So what supplement should I buy?

[decimon]

What's got red hair, big feet, and is found in a test tube?

Okay, I'll bite what be it?

[Dysart]

Resveratrol activates sirtuins(proteins), which impact telomeres, so it is thought to work indirectly. Some discussion:

telomeres

[Jewbacca]

I think red wine just helps me by making me no longer want to kill 1/4 of the world.

[Dysart]

See it works. Shiraz heck that’s what we’re thirsting for here— empirical data. Thanks.

[AdmSmith]

Children of older parents are born with shorter telomeres than children of younger parents.

But “We found that for each year the father is older, at birth the child has on average 17 bp longer telomeres.” according to http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/16/24/3097

We need more research.

[blam]

"We need more research. "

Thanks. I think so.

[SunkenCiv]

I’m sure. :’) For a while, there was a baseless belief (based on anecdotes?) that the older the father, the more likely the child would be schizophrenic. Then there was a belief that a parasite carried by some small fraction of the nation’s housecats caused schizophrenia later in life in children exposed to the parasite. My personal favorite is the 24 chromosome pairs delusion. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

Bozo the Clone.

[SunkenCiv]

Viagra and Minoxodil, throw out the condoms, and start knockin’ up single women in their twenties — you owe it to posterity! ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. :’)

[decimon]

Bozo the Clone.

That's Clarabell the clone to you, Howdy.

[SunkenCiv]

Y’know, that picture... I’d never had any fear of clowns before...